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Another bootcamp snafu after OSX update; please help.

Early 2014 27" iMac, i7, 3T Fusion Drive, 32G RAM, OSX & Win8.1

Problem: I updated OSX and after that I was unable to boot into Windows8.1x64 via BootCamp. I am able to run my Windows installation via Parallels (10) and I can see the Bootcamp dialogue if I request it on startup. If I try to boot into Windows either from OSX or from Bootcamp I get the following message (paraphrased): Your PC needs to be repaired, Error code 0x000000e . Any command attempted / repair attempted whether from thumbdrive or HDD loopsback to the same message. Only with a hard reboot can I return to OSX. Attempts to recover the entire drive from an Acronis 2014 sector-by-sector image created before the update fail.

My level of expertise is low.

I decided to post a question after reviewing the following excellent threads here:

Repairing Boot Camp after creating new partition

"No bootable device --- insert boot disk and press any key" after setting up Bootcamp

I believe I can follow them, but have not tried the solutions yet because I don't want to screw the machine up and the results of queries I make are a little different than their examples.

I include below the results of my queries beneath and thank anyone in advance for their help.

gpt show: disk0: mediasize=121332826112; sectorsize=512; blocks=236978176

gpt show: disk0: PMBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: disk0: Sec GPT at sector 236978175

start size index contents

0 1 PMBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

409640 236306352 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

236715992 262144 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

236978136 7

236978143 32 Sec GPT table

236978175 1 Sec GPT header

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 14751/255/63 [236978176 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 236978175] <Unknown ID>

2: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

3: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 199.4 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data WinOS 1.0 TB disk1s4

5: Microsoft Basic Data WinStor 997.7 GB disk1s5

6: Apple_CoreStorage 801.4 GB disk1s6

7: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s7

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *1.1 TB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2, ...

F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk3

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *4.0 GB disk3

1: DOS_FAT_16 4G USB 4.0 GB disk3s1

/dev/disk4

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *31.6 GB disk4

1: Windows_FAT_32 RECOVERY 31.6 GB disk4s1

/dev/disk5

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *61.9 GB disk5

1: Windows_NTFS 64G USB 61.9 GB disk5s1

/dev/disk6

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *123.6 GB disk6

1: Windows_FAT_32 128G USB 123.6 GB disk6s1

/dev/disk7

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *282.3 MB disk7

1: Apple_HFS Parallels Access 282.2 MB disk7s1

/dev/disk9

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk9

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk9s1

2: Apple_HFS Time Machine Backups 3.0 TB disk9s2

iMac

Posted on Sep 26, 2014 3:48 PM

Best reply

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Posted on Sep 26, 2014 6:06 PM

On a Fusion drive, Windows can be installed only on the HDD part using a non-EFI Bootcamp method.

Please post the output of

diskutil cs list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1 (This is where your Bootcamp installation is).

sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

Apart from TM (/dev/disk9) and a 4GB (/dev/disk3) Flash drive(?), what are these other drives (/dev/disk4 - /dev/disk9)?

If you have created an additional partition on WinSTOR after Bootcamp was installed, that can be problematic as well.

View in context

61 replies

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Oct 1, 2014 10:16 AM in response to Banango

To revert WinStor to a regular (non-CS) volume, you can use, for example

diskutil cs revert F2365295-E8FD-43AB-83EB-578769A4DDD0

diskutil cs revert

Usage: diskutil coreStorage revert

MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode|lvUUID

[-stdinpassphrase | -passphrase [passphrase] | -recoverykeychain file]

Convert a CoreStorage logical volume back to its native type.

The file system must be mounted and resizable (i.e. Journaled HFS+).

Ownership of the affected disk and a passphrase (if encrypted) is required.

Banango Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 1, 2014 8:41 PM in response to Loner T

diskutil cs revert F2365295-E8FD-43AB-83EB-578769A4DDD0

The given UUID is a not a valid CoreStorage Logical Volume UUID

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Oct 1, 2014 8:51 PM in response to Banango

How did an NTFS partition become a CoreStorage device? There is no Logical Volume at all, just a Logical Volume Family. Can you check diskutil list and see what is disk1s5?

Banango Author

Level 1

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Oct 2, 2014 8:44 AM in response to Loner T

>>>Can you check diskutil list and see what is disk1s5?

diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 199.4 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data WinOS 1.0 TB disk1s4

5: Apple_CoreStorage 997.5 GB disk1s5 😕

6: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s9

7: Apple_CoreStorage 801.4 GB disk1s6

8: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s7

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *1.1 TB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2, ...

F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

>>>> There is no Logical Volume at all, just a Logical Volume Family

Yes, this is correct.

>>>> How did an NTFS partition become a CoreStorage device?

How did an NTFS partition become a core storage device? I assume that is what happened when I deleted it using diskutil hoping I could then recreate it. It turns out I cannot recreate it! What has happened is as follows after I discovered that WinStor was not accessible from Windows (all from within OSX):

1) Using (GUI) Disk Utility I tried to reformat WinStor as exFAT but that was rejected.

2) Using (GUI) Disk Utility I deleted the partition and it then appeared as a CS Volume Group, as you have seen.

3) Using Terminal I tried to revert WinStor but this was rejected.

4) Using Terminal I deleted the Volume Group , and it then appeared as an empty partition but back within the main core storage volume.

5) Using (GUI) Disk Utility I tried to format the partition as exFAT and this created it once again as a CS Volume with no accessible logical volume.

At every step above, and before taking any of the steps above, I tried to use Win81 to reformat as NTFS what was appearing as unallocated space./ This never worked and still doesn't. I ultimately get the message that it is going beyond the 2T barrier for simple discs, and is not allowed. The funny thing about that is that the WinStor partition was originally created by splitting the WinOS partition in two after installing Win81 onto it. This was the only way I could get Win81 to run stably - by ensuring the partition it was on did not cross the 2T barrier. The WInStor partition crossed the barrier, the installation was stable, and I never received the message preventing me creating that second partition.

SInce I think I can do no further damage to the partition, but have the opportunity to experiment with it, after work hours I may next see if I can delete the CS VG again and then recreate it as a partition using one of the OSX formats. I realize Windows will be unable to see it, but at the moment it is totally inaccessible, so no harm can be done....I think!

I am still not clear how to clean install OSX again from the Internet. Do I do that from within OSX or do I do it during boot, oram I missing something? I still wish to avoid this route, but it would be good to know. I would also like to know how you got Windows onto the SSD portion of the Fusion drive on your Mac Minis.

All thoughts and advice welcome, and thank you again.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Oct 2, 2014 10:14 AM in response to Banango

1. Do you have any data on WinStor you want to save?

2. WinStor should not be formatted/touched using DU at all.

3. Power-Cycle and hold Command+Opt+R which will let you do an internet recovery.

4. Do you have anything in the Windows installation that you want to save.

5. Since you are using W8.1 and a 2014 iMac, there is a much cleaner option which should be what you should pursue, rather than this fragile Bootcamp approach.

Banango Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 2, 2014 12:34 PM in response to Loner T

1. Do you have any data on WinStor you want to save?

No, there is no data on it. It has been erased repeatedly.

2. WinStor should not be formatted/touched using DU at all.

OK....but it's a bit late for that, it was touched days ago.

3. Power-Cycle and hold Command+Opt+R which will let you do an internet recovery.

Thanks.

4. Do you have anything in the Windows installation that you want to save.

It's all backed up.

5. Since you are using W8.1 and a 2014 iMac, there is a much cleaner option which should be what you should pursue, rather than this fragile Bootcamp approach.

Please do tell....and will it still allow Parallels to work (out of curiosity)?

Thanks again.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Oct 2, 2014 12:58 PM in response to Banango

Banango wrote:

5. Since you are using W8.1 and a 2014 iMac, there is a much cleaner option which should be what you should pursue, rather than this fragile Bootcamp approach.

Please do tell....and will it still allow Parallels to work (out of curiosity)?

1. Erase both Winstor and Windows via DU.

2. Create a partition and format it as Free Space.

3. Do not use Bootcamp to partition.

4. Create an Installer using W8.1 and USB.

5. When the W8.1 Installer reboots, choose EFI Boot by pressing the Alt key and selecting EFI Boot.

6. Point it to this new partition you created.

7. Install W8.1 on a GPT disk.

8. You can create an additional partition and format it as FAT via DU.

9. Since W8.1 is GPT, you can format this second FAT partition as NTFS from W8.1. This is your WinStor.

10. You no longer have to fight MBRs and Hybrid MBRs. Since the entire disk is GPT it can be shrunk/expanded as you like using any GPT utility.

Banango Author

Level 1

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Oct 8, 2014 2:54 PM in response to Loner T

I'll give it a shot this weekend and report back. Thanks. B

Banango Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 19, 2014 4:51 PM in response to Loner T

This is another stupid question, I fear, but HOW do I format it as "Free Space"?

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Oct 19, 2014 5:17 PM in response to Banango

In Disk Utility, click on '+' at the bottom left, click on the partition that shows up, click on the drop-down list which has Mac OS X Extended journaled, there should be an option called Free Space, if you choose Free Space, the box below will also show Free Space. Put in the size you want, otherwise it will split it in half, which may not what you intended, and tab to the next field, so it resizes the new partition and shows it properly scaled in the partition pane.

Oct 19, 2014 10:07 PM in response to Banango

I just successfully installed Windows 8.1 Update 1 on BootCamp on Mac OS X Yosemite. Here is a step by step I just wrote, hope it helps y'all:

How to successfully install Windows 8, or above, on Mac OS X Mavericks or above:

Requirements:

1- Windows OS ISO Image file

2- An 8GBs USB Flash Drive

3- A good Internet connection as you will need to download the Windows compatible drivers for your Mac

Steps:

1- Open up Disk Utility and create an additional partition for Windows formatted as ExFat. 100GBs, or above, is recommended as update to the operating system, as well as Apps requiere space on your HD or SSD [This step can be done during Mac OS X's installation process]

2- Open up BootCamp Assistant

3- Make sure only the 'Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk' is checked and your USB Flash Drive plugged in and click 'Continue'

4- Click 'Choose' and select your Windows ISO Image file

5- Select the USB Flash Drive you will be using during the installation process and click continue to confirm

6- Once done, restart your Mac and hold down the 'alt/option' key on your keyboard to bring up the Boot Menu

7- Select the USB Flash Drive named Windows, not the UEFI Boot

8- Install Windows as you normally would

* Remember to press and hold the 'alt/option' key, and select the Windows Partition, whenever the installation process requires your Mac to restart

* http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj945423.aspx

* http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/install-windows-on-mac

Banango Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2014 6:27 PM in response to Loner T

Loner T,

Here's my report back: it all gets weirder and weirder.

I decided to have a go at getting the mahine aligned as you suggested, multi-booting without Boot Camp. I was able to delete the partition Windows was on by merging it with the first visible partition in Diskutility (GUI). There was no other way to erase it. Unfortunately, once this was done that partition could not be manipulated in any way - there was no possibility of shrinking, merging, etc, and no option to format some part of it as FreeSpace. From that point on the + and - buttons in Diskutil have been greyed out. I still had to delete the Winstor partition. I hoped that once it was gone I might be able to create a new partition and format it FreeSpace as you suggested. This proved to be impossible through Diskutility either via the UI or the command line, or even using the OSX Restore/Recovery partition. Moreover, I could not merge it with anything, indeed I could not manipulate it in any way. All attempts to adjust it in any way with Diskutility command line resulted in the message that the UUID was incorrect and the volume did not exist. After doing some reading I ended up using GParted to delete that partition, which you may recall had previously turned into a Core StorageVolume Group. I did not try partitioning or formatting the unallocated space where it had been, although I might give that a try now. Currently things stand as follows:

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

+-- Logical Volume Group 21379E82-9F5F-46E4-BC59-331C4DA9FE8D

=========================================================

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 2122933739520 B (2.1 TB)

Free Space: 126976 B (127.0 KB)

+-< Physical Volume 5CF2686D-5D4B-4D39-8220-7130AEF7A45E

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

+-< Physical Volume E8D6F2EC-7F40-4806-9AFC-0E5D7F7757E3

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 1200508346368 B (1.2 TB)

+-< Physical Volume A88492D5-E59C-488B-946A-3BE3EE0A2180

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 2

| Disk: disk1s6

| Status: Online

| Size: 801436540928 B (801.4 GB)

+-> Logical Volume Family C4A6357A-9745-4339-8A04-3C1594B72FDF

----------------------------------------------------------

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

+-> Logical Volume F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

---------------------------------------------------

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 2108117876736 B (2.1 TB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 1.2 TB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

4: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s5

5: Apple_CoreStorage 801.4 GB disk1s6

6: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s7

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *2.1 TB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2, ...

F782AFC6-0C98-43B2-B384-C1606DDEC7C3

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

The + and - buttons in GUI Diskutil (above) remain greyed out no matter what one highlights, so no adjustments whatever can be made through there.

I installed Yosemite in the hope it might help, but it made no difference. Interestingly, my startup options still list Windows drives/partitions even though there no longer are any!

I'd really love to somehow access all the drive space again via GPT and install Windows on Freespace as you suggested, or failing that clean-install Yosemite and start all over again....but I cannot even figure out how to make the full 3T of the stupid Fusion Drive accessible. I really curse that Fusion Drive as I feel it is the ultimate cause of all my problems.

I am hoping you can help once again.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Oct 21, 2014 8:27 PM in response to Banango

Yes, it is possible to erase both drives and start form scratch. DU seems to be broken for Fusion drives in Mavericks and Yosemite.

You will need to use command line diskutil and diskutil cs commands and get it to work the way you want it. I would not use DU, the current version has caused me more grief than I want to share.

Post back here when you want to get started.

Banango Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2014 8:45 PM in response to Loner T

I want to get started! I am happy to format the thing in whatever the best way may be, split the fusion drive, whatever is best to run Win81 and Yosemite separately and as close to natively as possible. It would be nice to be able to use Parallels as well since I forked out for it, but whatever. Win81 is primary for me. I made a mistake about the machine - it is classed as a Late 2013 27", otherwise speced as high as possible.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Oct 21, 2014 8:49 PM in response to Banango

Do you want OS X and W8.1, both on the SSD? If yes, the Windows size should be limited to half of the SSD.

Another bootcamp snafu after OSX update; please help.